Mike Atherton: When, exactly, did it threaten to become one of those days? You know, one of those grisly, gruesome, end of series — maybe even end of era — days? Was it Matthew Potts’ first, expensive over? Will Jacks’ dropped catch? The wasted reviews on the nightwatchman, Michael Neser? The warning signs were there in the morning, flashing red rather than the McGrath Foundation pink, which dominated the ground wherever you looked.
That England just about held it together after a truly horrible first session, without collapsing completely, says something about this team’s character but there is no doubt about who had the better of the day. Travis Head’s third masterful hundred of the series dominated the morning and after that it was always likely that Steve Smith would exploit the occasion and the platform set by Head to make his first hundred of what has been, for him, a quiet Ashes.
• Read our chief cricket correspondent’s full report here
‘England have been out-Test matched’
Phil Tufnell, the former England spinner, on BBC Test Match Special: “Australia have taught England how to think about Test cricket. If you are batting, you need to go big. They have a better mindset about the game for me. They are tougher. We have been out-Test matched. It is not necessarily skill or talent, it is discipline and how you go about it. You cannot play Test cricket loosely.”
‘The day England have been dreading’
Justin Langer, the former Australia player and head coach, sums up that day as the one “England have been dreading” on TNT Sports, adding that he saw some “good old-fashioned Test cricket”.
Graeme Swann, meanwhile, says that Australia’s total “makes England’s score look like paltry”.
Elizabeth Ammon: It’s been a very long day in the field for England and this is a very, very handy lead for Australia who can press home their advantage on the morning of day four.
A Steve Smith masterclass to back up yet another Travis Head century has put the home side in a strong position. England’s bowling has been patchy in the extreme, not helped by dropped catches and putting themselves under more pressure by burning all their DRS reviews in the morning session — all on the nightwatchman Michael Neser.
Elizabeth Ammon: Will Jacks has been getting some turn out of the pitch — perhaps Australia will regret not picking a spinner. On commentary, Jason Gillespie said that he thinks five is just too many seam bowlers — “if you can’t get 20 wickets with four seamers, you aren’t going to get them with five”.
Jacks is tossing a few up and has a slip and a leg slip and a short leg for Beau Webster.
Beau Webster thumps Josh Tongue for four and then picks up a single to help Australia pass the 500 mark. Steve Smith, meanwhile, is looking easy breezy. If England don’t get him out tonight, they have a sleepless night ahead of them.
PHILIP BROWN/GETTY IMAGES
Steve Smith plays to the crowd by signalling for a wide off Matthew Potts, who had just gone for a few boundaries and is zero for 141 from 25 overs.
Jacob Bethell is doing his best to stem the flow of runs but Australia’s lead continues to creep up with England looking tired in the heat. Earlier, Steve Smith hit a tennis forehand smash from a Matthew Potts short ball. Death by a thousand cuts.
Here’s where his latest effort puts him on the all-time list.
Most Test centuriesRicky Ponting and Joe Root: 41Australia 463 for seven at drinks
Australia turning the screw. England flagging in the heat. A familiar tale…
Mike Atherton, chief cricket correspondent: Steve Smith loves the Sydney Cricket Ground. He was averaging almost 70 here in Tests before this match, having made four hundreds in 13 matches. This was his fifth Test hundred, therefore, and his 37th of all in Test cricket. It felt inevitable that he would get there all day long after an uncharacteristically quiet Ashes series. Having missed Adelaide, he was keen to cash in here.
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He had to wait a while in the morning, until England finally prised out Michael Neser, the nightwatchman, and he was happy to sail along in Travis Head’s slipstream initially. Zak Crawley finger-tipped a chance at leg slip when Smith had made 12 but that was as close as England got to dismissing him, as he dominated the final two sessions.
There was the odd extravagant shot — he hit Jacob Bethell for a mighty six down the ground — but was largely content to accumulate. His idiosyncrasies were there for all to see — at one point he asked an England fielder to remove their sunglasses because of the glare — and he spent the second half of his innings with a dirty smear on his shirt having been dumped on his backside on a number of occasions, evading bouncers.
ROBERT CIANFLONE/GETTY IMAGES
What a player, though, and how the Ashes brings out the best in him. When he manoeuvred Bethell to the leg side for three runs to bring up his hundred, there was a huge roar. He has now made 13 Ashes hundreds, one more than Jack Hobbs. Only Don Bradman, with 19 Ashes hundreds, has made more.
Backs to the wall for England
Simon Wilde: It’s been a tough day for England in the field with centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith putting Australia in the ascendancy. When the day began with Australia 166 for two, England were still in the game but they needed to start strongly. In fact, they had a shocker before lunch, managing only the wicket of nightwatchman Michael Neser, and it took them an hour and 45 minutes to even take that. In the meantime they burnt their last two reviews against him. By then Head had moved to his third century of the series off 105 balls and he was to be the beneficiary of some sloppy fielding — he was on 121 when Will Jacks grassed a regulation chance at deep midwicket and he could have been run out by Ben Duckett on 154. He also gave a couple of other very difficult chances, while Smith survived a quarter-chance to Zak Crawley at leg slip on 12.
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The wheels might have come off but England bounced back in the afternoon to claim the wickets of Head — lbw sweeping at his first ball from Jacob Bethell — Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey, who again fell to the leg-slip trap. But there was no shifting Smith and he and Cameron Green took Australia into a lead, which was worth 53 when Brydon Carse had Green caught in the deep. All is not lost, but England have their backs firmly to the wall.
Hello and welcome to The Times’ live coverage of day three of the fifth Ashes Test between England and Australia in Sydney.
Travis Head hit a swashbuckling 163 and Steve Smith is currently into the 90s as Australia look to build their lead over England in Sydney. It was the destructive Head’s third ton of the series, to go with the match-winning 123 he made in Perth and 170 at Adelaide. He was given a massive let-off, though, on 121 when he pulled Brydon Carse and Will Jacks dropped a sitter near the ropes. And the theme of sub-par fielding, as it has for much of this series, continued when Smith, on 12, was dropped at leg slip by Zak Crawley.